Weather complicates already packed schedule

Weather has declared itself the winner of the weekend’s Mississippi High School Activities Association schedule.
There were 14 games involving area teams scheduled to play baseball Friday night. By the afternoon, there were only two still scheduled, tentatively, to play.
And then it kept raining.
“It’s bad frustrating. I’ll just be honest with you,” East Union baseball coach Chris Basil said.
Basil is openly frustrated with the scenario that seems to happen every year at this time. With state testing and limited games next week, too many delays this week could back teams up into rushed schedules and pitching dilemmas for round two.
Basil’s Urchins have yet to play their opening game of a Class 2A series against Riverside, a team more than four hours away. The Urchins were scheduled for that game Thursday. It was postponed then and Friday and is now scheduled to start today at 4 p.m.
Basil has a idea – to play baseball in the fall and push football and basketball back at least a month. It would seemingly help avoid this problem, as well as the early season heat problems with football and allow college coaches in each sport more off-season time to watch in-state players.
“To me, our job as coaches is to get our kids out there where college coaches can see them,” Basil said. “I may just be thinking out loud, but there’s got to be something we can do.”
Mostly the second game of three-game-series, games were postponed to various times today, weather permitting of course.
Some will play double-headers if necessary, including Class 4A New Albany at Kosciusko at 11 a.m. Alcorn Central was host Sunday baseball, Game 1 against Leland in the 3A series at 2 p.m.
Softball didn’t escape. Mooreville was scheduled to host Kossuth in a 3A quarterfinals series opener on Friday. That was moved to tonight at 6 p.m.
TENNIS DELAYED
The MHSAA tennis championships were postponed for a second time Friday. Team champions were scheduled to be determined, but rain has moved the team and individual events to May 14-16.
Mooreville is in its second straight state title match, facing five-time champ St. Andrews. Oxford is playing for its sixth straight team championship and New Albany is going for its third in four years.
brandon.speck@journalinc.com